Sunday, January 11, 2015

Paddle8 is a virtual auction house, backed by the owners and technology investors behind Uber, Pinterest and Vimeo. The company is focused on fine art,
holding two types of auctions: benefit auctions, which are held through
collaborations with non-profits and major museums, and biweekly themed
auctions.

In the first half of 2014, total sales reached $17.8 million, a
400 percent increase over the same period in 2013. The company has
received $17 million from Investors.
Not nearly as large as the major auction houses, founder Alexander
Gilkes isn’t worried, claiming that his company’s “focus is on the whole
middle market, . . . the $100,000 range.” although he did qualify the
statement saying, “we had a Jeff Koons egg that started at $500 and went
to $900,000.”

With Paddle8’s success, the major auction houses are
ramping up their online business. In 2014, Sotheby’s inked a deal with
eBay to stream its auctions online and Christie’s, the world’s largest
auction house, putting additional marketing efforts into its $50 million
media platform. In the first six months of 2014, 27 percent of
Christie’s online buyers were new to the auction house.